Next week, from July 23th to July 25th, 90 people—including 18 women—will start a race in Death Valley, Calif., that will end 135 miles later high up on Mt. Whitney. This is the Kiehl’s Badwater Ultramarathon. If you have never rented the movie “Running on the Sun,” I can’t recommend it enough. It is a very well crafted documentary about this race and some of the people who come back to face this daunting challenge year after year.

Today’s video is an interview with a woman who is running this race for the second time. Tune in to learn what really motivates these runners to spend 23-60 hours of running through hell.

I found myself at the age of 38 the single full time working mother of 3 small children. I took up running because I figured I could get the biggest benefit in the least amount of time. Swearing never to run a marathon I found myself going out for a 4 - 6 mile run several times a week.
I ran my first marathon 6 years later. Five years after that I ran another and then the next year another. Then I got bit by the triathlon bug so now I split my time between running, swimming and cycling. This year I think I'll run another marathon. And next year - who knows?

I am considering running my first ultramarathon in September, but I haven’t decided yet. I am still going to run Marine Corps in October, so I still have a few weeks to decide if I need to ramp up earlier than planned or keep going on my current schedule.

Great post. My work colleage Jay Hodde has completed Badwater twice, most recently last year. Sitting and hearing his full description of this race is mind-boggling. Mega-best wishes to all the competitors starting Monday morning!